$60,000 In Fines For Illegal Waste Disposal

A Rotorua man has been fined a total of
$30,000 for his role in the dumping and burning of
demolition waste on a Te Manu Road property.

In a
joint prosecution by Bay of Plenty Regional Council and
Rotorua District Council, Raymond Keith Fleming was fined in
Tauranga District Court this week for unlawfully allowing
disposal of demolition waste from Rotorua Hospital without a
resource consent and burning prohibited waste from
demolition work. The rubbish included plastic, tyres and
treated timber.

In February 2012 Bay of Plenty
Regional Council received complaints that the defendant was
unlawfully depositing waste from Rotorua Hospital demolition
work onto the property.

A Regional Council officer
went to the hospital and observed waste being loaded onto a
Waikato Demolition truck, then followed the truck to the Te
Manu Road property. The waste included concrete, reinforcing
steel, treated timber, polythene, plastic piping and
fibreglass insulation. The officer later observed a large
amount of smoke coming from open burning.

In a
joint enforcement operation, staff from Bay of Plenty
Regional Council and Rotorua District Council later found
one site at the Te Manu Road property for concrete dumping
and one site for demolition waste, which included electronic
equipment, lino, insulation material, cladding, treated
timber, green waste, buried polystyrene, records from the
hospital and other materials.

Notes at the offices
of Waikato Demolition’s head office detailed 28 rubbish
loads in a two week period.

The defendant said he
didn’t think he required consents, and that he had a fire
permit from Rotorua District Council to burn rubbish.

Judge Robert Wolff imposed a fine of $30, 000 on
Fleming, allowing 25 percent discount for mitigating factors
– 20 percent for an early guilty plea and a five percent
discount for Fleming’s remorse and remedial work.

This followed the sentencing of Fleming’s co-offender,
Waikato Demolition, in December 2012. Waikato Demolition
was the demolition contractor that had taken waste materials
from Rotorua Hospital to the Te Manu Road site, and was
fined $29,400 for its role in the offending.

Regional Council Pollution Prevention Manager Nick Zaman
said the total fines imposed for the illegal waste disposal
were $60,000, and highlighted how seriously the courts were
now treating illegal waste disposal.

“In Mr
Fleming’s case the motive for illegal acceptance and
disposal of waste was clearly financial gain. Mr Fleming had
undercut the price for disposal at the local authorised
landfill (which had the correct consents and processes in
place to deal with the waste) and by doing this, was
cheating the community and businesses that did the right
thing.

“It is important that anyone involved in
waste disposal or demolition work ensures they are disposing
of waste lawfully,” Mr Zaman said.

Rotorua
District Council’s Planning Manager Liam Dagg said the two
successful prosecutions highlighted the collaborative
approach the District and Regional Councils were prepared to
take to protect Rotorua’s environment.

“They
should be seen as a warning that anyone flouting
environmental law will find themselves before the
Environment Court. It’s clear from these successful
prosecutions that the court takes a very dim view of these
types of offences and is prepared to deal decisively with
offenders.”

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